And So She Met the Visored
by gingerwithattitude
Summary: Tatsuki is frustrated over her lack of knowledge pertaining to the Winter War.  What happens when she is attacked by a hollow one night and a certain tall blonde boy comes to her rescue? Tatsuki is completely thrown into their world. R&R
1. Chapter 1

**This is my second attempt at a fanfic. My first, Lennie and Lex's Adventures in Hueco Mundo got a really good response, so I decided to try another one. Hope you like it R&R please!**

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><p>I sat in my desk fumbling with my shoulder length black hair. I looked over at my best friend Orihime. She hadn't been that same for a long time. Her smiles always seemed empty, and her eyes always seemed to be somewhere else. Ever since she had gotten back from only God knows where, she hadn't been the same; neither had Ichigo, Chad, or Uryu for that matter. It bothers me immensely that I don't know that whole story. I had always been there for all of my friends and it hurt knowing that I was no longer a part of their inner circle.<p>

I was seeing spirits more frequently and more clearly than ever. It annoyed me to no end. I knew a lot about that world because the weird blonde guy. He had been more informative than any of my friends had been. Ichigo had told me the bare minimum, probably because he knew that I would kick his ass if he didn't. Every time I even mention it to Orihime, she just starts crying. I know that she well eventually open up. What ever had happened obviously had caused her a lot of pain. I eventually stopped asking questions all together. I don't like to see Orihime cry and don't want to be the one causing it. Ichigo on the other hand, completely infuriates me. I had already gotten in trouble for breaking a window with his head. I decided that if he didn't want to tell me, then fine.

Sitting there thinking about it now makes me mad as hell. I mean, come on I was a senior now. It had been at least a year and it still gets to me from time to time. My teacher was talking in a very monotone voice about some complex fraction crap. I was just drowning her out. My grades were fine and I know that I could just catch up later.

When the bell rang, I got up from her seat and headed out of the door. Orihime was right on my heels. She was saying something about a food creation that she had made recently. I was still in my own little angry haze. I simply nodded and smiled at whatever she said.

"Hey, Orihime, I've got practice and I'm working the late shift tonight, so I'll have to talk to you later."

Orihime waved goodbye with a big smile and headed out of the building.

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><p>Practice was hell. I had been festering over these old feelings. I couldn't concentrate. My coach let me take a break to clear my head. I rarely lost focus. He told me that he would take the late shift of beginners for me. I had been helping out at the dojo a lot recently. It helped to keep my mind busy.<p>

"Go on get out of here Arisawa. I got this just go and sort out whatever is messing with your head."

"Thank you sir." I said with a bow.

It was late. The street lights were on. Few people were on the streets. Walking home alone at night had never bothered her. I know that I was very capable of kicking anyone's ass that tried to mess with me. Still, tonight I just had an eerie feeling that something wasn't quite right. I continued to walk down the street, gripping my bags tightly. I heard an odd noise and turned around quickly. Nothing was there. I swallowed hard and continued to walk down the sidewalk, now at a faster pace. Suddenly, I heard a loud roar. I spun around and lost my footing, making me fall flat on my butt.

There it was; a truly hideous monster. It looked like a giant grotesque bug. It was green and purple with large teeth. The thing laughed.

"Hmm, interesting, seems like you can see me. This place reeks of spiritual pressure. Yours is quite high as well. You might actually make a pretty fulfilling meal."

It let out a terrible laugh. I felt as though my heart stopped beating. The monster swung its giant arm down at me. I narrowly dodged it, but my body had reacted. The thing let out an evil hiss and struck again. I was more prepared and dodged this one even more effectively. I knew there was no way that I could actually try and fight this thing. There was only one more option, run.

I turned around and bolted down the street. I was fast. I felt the wind hit me in the face as I raced down the street. I stopped. I wasn't quite sure where I was or how long that I had been running. I took in my surroundings and turned the corner. The monster was right in front of me.

"Did you actually think that you could run from me?"

I gave no answer. I just walked backwards slowly. I was about two yards back when I hit something. I spun around and a tall boy was standing right behind me. I recognized him, but wasn't quite sure where I had seen him.

"You have to get out of here, run! NOW!" I yelled.

The blonde boy cocked his head to side and let out a toothy grin. He chuckled slightly. I looked down surprised to see what was in his hand. A sword. 'Why in the hell does this guy have a sword? Does he really think that he can hurt that thing with that, that toy?' Other questions and thoughts swirled around in my head. Before I could even utter another word, he was gone. I turned around, surprise to see what had just happened. The blonde headed boy was already several feet in the air, sword drawn. He sliced its white face clean in half; before I could even blink.

"What the hell was that?" I shouted.

I was shaking profusely. I didn't know if it was from adrenaline, surprise, or a word that rarely went through my head, fear. The boy just shrugged his shoulders and picked up his newsboy hat that had fallen to the ground seconds earlier. Then, it all clicked.

"You're that boy from school. You were only there for like two days. Ichigo seemed to have a big problem with you." I said quickly.

The boy just laughed and brushed some dirt off of his hat and placed it on his head.

"Yea, Ichigo is basically a dumbass isn't he. I'm surprised that you can see me, though if you know Ichigo it really isn't that surprising." He said coolly.

"Wait you know Ichigo, and what do you mean I can see you, you're just a boy!"

The boy just shook his head and headed down the street. I chased after him. He gave a sigh and spun around quickly and stopped. I almost bumped into him. He stuck out his hand. I just stared at it.

"You are supposed to shake it."

I felt a small blush come to my cheeks as I shook his hand.

"I'm Shinji Hirako. I do know Ichigo, rather well actually. I am also not just_ a boy_ as you put it."

With that he vanished. Who the hell was he? Ichigo will know and if he doesn't tell me, then I'll beat it out of him.

"Shit, where is my bag?" I said out loud.

I must have dropped it while I was running or even before that. The bad thing was, I didn't remember quite where I came from. I began to retrace my steps. I had no luck in finding my school bag or gym bag. 'Well this sucks. I'll have to come back tomorrow and pray that no one steals it.' I thought.

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><p>I went home and laid in bed. I couldn't sleep. My thoughts kept drifting to the events that had happened tonight. What was that thing and what was that boy. He wasn't a regular spirit because he didn't have one of those weird chain things coming out of his chest, but he wasn't a soul reaper either. He wasn't wearing one of those dorky robs that Ichigo and that guy with the afro wore. I didn't know what to think about Shinji. He had saved my life. 'Shit, I didn't even thank him!' I yelled at myself. Talk about rude. When I finally drifted off to sleep, all I dreamed about was horrible monsters and a certain tall lanky blonde headed boy; wielding a sword and saving my life.<p>

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><p><strong>I hoped that you liked it. Please please review! Let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions or constructive criticism it is always appreciated.<strong>

**~kt**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks to the reviewers of the first chapter: Hyou no Joo, Mira, Firechild94, and RougeSama. Thanks for the support you guys. Please R&R!**

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><p>I stormed into school. My eyes were searching for the mess of red hair sticking out in the crowd. There he was. I pushed through a group of squealing girls and grabbed him by the back of his collar.<p>

"Hey! What the Hell Tasuki?"

I didn't answer him. I just dragged him to a secluded, and fairly empty, hallway. I let go of his shirt and pushed him against the wall. I stood directly in front of him. His eyes where searching mine, waiting for me to say something.

"Now, for starters I know that you won't talk about whatever shit went down last year. No one will talk about it. I get it. You don't want to tell me. I was never a part of it all, so I understand. This however, directly involves me and if you don't tell exactly what I want to know I will beat the shit out of you. Am I making myself perfectly clear?"

Ichigo nodded, looking slightly afraid of either me, what I was going to as him, or both. I hoped it was both. Fear was the only thing that his big block head would seem to understand.

"Now, I know about hollows from what you have told me; just a little, but I know. I also no that spirits have chains on them and shinigami don't. Shinigami have to wear that robe thing right?"

Ichigo still just nodded.

"Would there be a kind of spirit that isn't a shinigami and doesn't have a chain, but has the capability of defeating a hollow?"

Ichigo let out a moan.

"No Tats, geez I don't even understand what you're asking or trying to get at."

I sank my brown eyes into his.

"I was attacked by a hollow last night."

Ichigo looked completely shocked. He let out a sigh and began to shake his head.

"Man Tats, I'm so sorry. I should have been there for you. I should have sensed or I shou…"

"Just stop it okay!" I interrupted. "I am obviously fine. I'm not injured or anything. Will you please just get over your I-have-to-save-every-freaking-body-and-be-the-hero complex? It gets on everybody's nerves, so stop. Now let me finish."

Ichigo just stared at me, completely shocked.

"Now someone saved me last night and you know who he is. You are going to tell me what you know about him."

Ichigo swallowed hard and nodded. He knew that I meant business.

"Shinji Hirako."

I saw Ichigo's eyes widen and I knew he knew this guy.

"Umm…Shinji, well, it's kind of hard to explain. He's, well he's…"

"Just spit it out already well ya!"

Ichigo let out another frustrated moan and ran his hands through his hair.

"Look how about this. I can't really explain, so how about you just come with me and Orihime after school and I'll just show you. I don't like keeping you in the dark about things; I mean you are my oldest friend. It's just that things are really complex and hard to talk about. I know you feel left out, and I don't want you to feel that way. Just meet me…no wait come with Orihime about six. I'll let her know what's going on."

I looked at my feet and nodded. Ichigo let out a sigh of relief. It was probably relief that I didn't hit him in the face. I heard the warning bell toll and Ichigo and I headed to class.

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><p>I sat there in my extremely bored state. How could I concentrate on the effect of American Literature when all of this stuff was happening? I glanced over at Ichigo, who was passing a note to Orihime. I saw her eyes widen as she read the note. I saw her take out a piece of scratch paper and write furiously. I turned around and tried to follow the teachers lecture about some book called <em>Pride and Prejudice<em>. I looked down to see a note slip on my desk. I unfolded it quietly and read Orihime's bad handwriting.

**Tatsuki,**

**How about you meet me at my place at 5:45! This is going to be so much fun. I can't wait until you meet Hachi. He's helped me out a lot. The others guys are really great too. I can't wait for tonight!**

**~Orihime ^^**

I glanced over to Orihime and nodded my head, letting her know that everything was fine.

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><p>I was searching through my closet at 5:00. It didn't really know what to wear, so I pulled out a pair of skinny jeans and a simple maroon colored, long sleeve t-shirt. It had a scoop neck, so it looked slightly dressy. It was better than just a plain t-shirt. I got dresses and brushed my hair. 'This stuff wasn't as much of a pain when it was short.' I thought to myself while pulling the knots out of my hair. I was slipped on a pair of all black converses and headed out of the door.<p>

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><p>Orihime talked none stop about all these different people that I would be meeting the whole way there. She kept referring to them by name, but telling me nothing about them. I didn't know these people. It's not like I could follow her babble. I loved Orihime. I mean she was my best friend and all, but there was no way that I could follow all of her constant rambling all of the time.<p>

We finally reached what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse. Orihime walked forward, and then stopped.

"Looks like Kurosaki-kun didn't let them know we were coming, the barriers still up."

I didn't know if she was talking to me or what. I saw her start to concentrate really hard for a few minutes. Suddenly she just smiled, grabbed my wrist and pulled me into the warehouse.

We were greeted by and extremely large man with pink hair and a black cross bones on top of his head. Orihime and smiled and greeted the man whose name was Hachi.

"So, who is this?" Hachi asked.

"Uh, hi, I'm Tatsuki." I said.

"Where's Kurosaki-kun?" Orihime asked.

"He's on the training field with Shinji. He said he wanted to practice. Those two have been going at it for hours. He didn't say that we would be expecting anyone else though."

"Of course he didn't." I mumbled under my breath.

I began to walk over to the source of a bunch of noise. I heard Orihime follow after me. I gasped at the sight that I saw. Ichigo was in his soul reaper uniform. His sword was drawn, but he had this weird mask on. It reminded me of the hollow from yesterday. The boy he was fighting was Shinji. He had on a mask too. Ichigo's mask began to crack and fall of. Shinji's stayed on as he leapt forward; pushing Ichigo with great force into the wall. I pile of dust surrounded where he was. The floor was covered in dirt and there was no way that this was just a warehouse. I heard Orihime gasp as she ran toward Ichigo. 'Typical.' I thought. I saw Shinji pull off his mask as it crumbled away.

"Orihime get off of me! I said I'm fine, seriously!" Ichigo yelled.

I let out a groan and went over to hopefully pull Orihime off of Ichigo. I was half way there when Shinji popped up out of no where staring at me quizzically. I jumped, though only slightly, at his sudden appearance. He had his head cocked to the side just a little.

"Umm I just wanted to; uh…thank you for yesterday." I said.

Shinji took a step closer to me. We were extremely close and it was making me a bit uncomfortable. I felt heat rising to my face as he took another step close. He raised his hand and I just stood there, frozen solid and wide eyed. I felt something hit my forehead quickly. 'That asshole just thumped my forehead!' I thought to myself.

"What the hell was that for?" I shrieked.

Shinji just shrugged his shoulders and turned away quickly. His hair flipped slightly, and then landed back into place perfectly. I saw still standing there vivid with anger. I turned my head to see someone standing beside me.

"Man, I've never seen anyone kick Ichigo's ass like Shinji can."

This guy was tall and really buff. He had grey hair and some piercings. He wore a black tank top trimmed in white. He also had on a pair of army green cargo pants and black boots. I let out a sarcastic grunt.

"What, do you know someone who could do it better?"

I smirked at the man.

"I've seen someone punch him in the face so hard that his head shot backwards and broke a window."

"Shit."

I just nodded and headed toward Ichigo. I looked back and there was a little girl hanging from his arm. She had green hair and sort of looked like a bug.

Orihime was sitting beside Ichigo pouting. Ichigo stood up with a wince.

"You know that little scene didn't tell me anything." I said.

Ichigo groaned.

"Not now Tatsuki, please."

Ichigo stood up straighter with a grunt.

"No! Ichigo you told me that-GAH!" I shrieked.

Someone had scooped me up and now I was hanging from whoever's shoulder I was on like a sack of potatoes. All I could see was the back of white dress shirt and a pair of khaki pants. I tried to look up, only to see Ichigo, bent to the side waving sarcastically.

"ICHIGO YOU ASSHOLE!" I screamed.

Whoever held me let out a chuckle. I let out an annoyed shriek. My captor tried to shift my weight by raising up his shoulder. To my horror, I felt my shirt come down just slightly. I was sure that it didn't go past my belly button, but still. I felt my cheeks burn with embarrassment. I felt a warm hand settle on my bare skin. That didn't help the burning of my face and neck any. We went through a few sets of doors until I was finally flopped down on what felt like a bed. I stood up quickly and swung my fist. I felt it contact with something, but it wasn't something that I had punched before. I looked up only to Shinji grinning from ear to ear with that stupid toothy grin of his. He was clenching my fist in his hand. My jaw dropped. 'Had this guy actually just caught my punch?' I went for another attacked and he blocked. This went on for a few minutes. Punch, block, kick, block, punch again, blocked again. I was about to try again when Shinji shoved me on the bed with a laugh.

"Wow, you're pretty feisty aren't ya?"

I sat up and glared at him. He just smiled and pulled up and black desk chair and sat down. Only then did I realize where we were. The bed was a dark grey and the walls were white. There was a black nightstand on either side of the bed. A large flat screen television was mounted on the wall. A long black bookshelf sat under it. There was a stainless steal desk with a white Mac sitting on it. There was a few ties sitting of the desk and a newsboy hat was on the bedpost. There were also a few button-up shirts thrown here and there. This was Shinji's room. I began to blush as I realized that I was in some boy's bedroom that I barely knew…alone.

"So, I know that you have a lot of questions about a lot of things. I also know that Ichigo is too much of a dipshit to actually tell you himself; which is why he asked me to talk to you the next time that we met. Little did I know that that would be today."

Shinji began rolling his chair around in circles with his feet.

"The issue of the Winter War will be up to either Ichigo or Orihime though."

"Wait war? Seriously, they were in a real war?" I said angrily.

Seriously, my best friends go off to war and they don't even give me a heads up!"

"Uh-huh. Well back to what I will be telling you. We, including Ichigo, are Visoreds. We used to be just plain shinigamis until we were changed in a process called hollowfication. That basically turned us into hollows, but we were able to control it and use that to our advantage, thus the masks." he explained.

"So your part hollow, like that monster thing?"

"Well, yes, but we are in control."

"Ichigo is part hollow too?"

"Uh-huh."

I sat there nodding. I guess that was a simple explanation.

"Umm why were you turned into hollow-things?"

"We all were set up. We all are captains or vice-captains, so we needed to be…eliminated."

"Why did you need to be eliminated?"

"We were in the way of a very bad man. Soul Society considers us traitors, so we are just kind of here."

"But, it wasn't your fault. You guys didn't choose this!"

I jumped off of the bed shrieking. It wasn't fair to these people. I was angry. Nothing seemed to be fair anymore.

"Umm…yeah, I know."

Shinji looked a little surprised at my sudden outburst. To tell the truth, I was too. The door was snatched open and a small blonde girl stepped through the threshold.

"Shinji where the hell did you…"

She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw me. Her eyes went from me to him, back to me, then him again. She walked up to Shinji and smacked him in the back of the head. He didn't seem to be fazed by her actions; I bet this was her normal behavior. Before she went all the way out of the room she muttered:

"I guess his not so much of a baldy after all."

I furrowed my eyebrows and looked at Shinji. He just shrugged and headed to the door. I followed him out.

We walked back to the center of the training area.

"Where the hell is everybody?" I asked.

Shinji picked up a note that was stuck to one of the rocks.

"Getting dinner." Shinji said simply.

Those assholes just left us here by ourselves? Geez, even Orihime left; Ichigo probably talked her into it.

Shinji let out an annoyed sigh.

"I guess I better walk you home."

"Umm, I can walk home by myself."

Shinji just sighed, yet again.

"Not from what I saw last night." Shinji muttered.

I spun around and glared at him. I could _so_ take care of myself.

"That was different circumstances." I spat back at him.

Shinji just shrugged and stuck his hands in his pockets. He walked toward the exit and I was following behind him. He turned around and stuck out his tongue revealing a small silver tongue ring.

"Last night was only the beginning." he said with a wink.

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><p><strong>Hey guys hope that you liked it. Please let me know what you think.<strong>

**~kt**


	3. Chapter 3

Shinji and I walked to my house in silence. Shinji was trying to be in front and lead the way until I reminded him that we were going to my house and I was pretty sure that he didn't know where I lived. We reached my doorstep. I fished my key out of my pocket and opened the door with a click.

"Umm, well…I guess I'll see you later."

Shinji took at step closer to me and gave a smile. He, for the second time, thumped my forehead with his pointer fingers.

"Why do you do that?" I shrieked.

I rubbed my forehead and Shinji just laughed. Shinji hopped down the stairs. He turned and waved goodbye just before he vanished into the night.

I was running around frantically, trying to get ready for school. I went to grab my bag, but of course I had no bag. I shoved a piece of toast in my mouth and closed the door behind me.

"Wha fa hell aw you doin hew?"

Shinji stood on my front porch. He laughed and pulled my toast out of my mouth and took a bite.

"Hey that's mine!"

Shinji shrugged as he continued to eat my breakfast. He held his hand out. What he was holding made my jaw drop. In his hand was my school and gym bag. I went to grab them but Shinji pulled them away before I could get them in my grasp. Shinji waved his finger in my face. He walked down the street, my toast in his mouth, and my bags in his hands.

"Where in the hell do you think that you're going with my stuff?"

Shinji turned around and looked at me while he was chewing the last of my toast.

"School." he said simply.

"Why are you going to school?"

"I'm pretty bored, so I just decided to. I also think that something is going on with Ichigo, so I'm going to be around for a bit."

"Well while you're here could you stop stealing all of my stuff? I really need my bags."

Shinji turned around and smiled. He handed me my two bags and headed down the sidewalk.

"You owe my breakfast you know!"

I heard Shinji laugh as he sauntered up the school steps. I noticed that a lot of the girls were staring and whispering to one another. I just rolled my eyes as I saw Shinji wink at two of my friends Michiru and Ryo. I saw both of them blush before they turned away.

We were reading an exert from Pride and Prejudice. I liked this Elizabeth girl. She didn't take shit from any man. 'You tell that Mr. Darcy girl!' I laughed to myself.

Class flew by and soon it was lunch. The teacher left and went to the teacher's lounge, leaving us kid to talk and mingle without supervision.

"Shit!" I said through gritted teeth.

"Did you forget to make your lunch Tatsuki?" Orihime asked.

"Yea, I was running late and I didn't even eat breakfast."

I shot a glare at Shinji who was talking to Ichigo, Chad, Keigo, and Miziuro. It was his fault. If I had been able to eat my breakfast I wouldn't be this hungry right now.

"You can share some of mine." Orihime asked.

I tried to hide my disgust as Orihime looked at me with that big smile of hers. Orihime's food was unique. Well it was really just plain gross, but no one would tell her that.

"No, I'm fine. I'll be okay. I'll just eat something when I get home. The lines way long and I'm really not that hungry."

"Okay, let's go outside and eat with the girls. It's so pretty out!" Orihime smiled.

I nodded and followed her out. The only ones that were left were the group of my best guy friends…and Shinji. Before I left I made sure I gave him a good smack on the back of his head. That made all of the guys stare at me. They obviously didn't know that this asshole had stolen my breakfast.

"He seems nice."

"Yeah, I think that he's cute too."

"He winked at me and Ryo this morning. I thought I was going to die!"

"Did you guys see that he had a tongue ring?" I heard Chizuru chant.

Why the hell did she care? She obviously played for the other team. I sat down as my group of girl friends giggled and fawned over Shinji. I just rolled my eyes. I was hugging my stomach trying to keep it from growling. I didn't want Orihime to try and shove today's concoction down my throat.

I felt a pair of warm hands cover my eyes.

"Guess who?" the voice that I recognized as Shinji's coo.

I quickly swatted his hands away.

"What do you want?"

Shinji dropped a brown paper bag in my lap.

"This makes us even."

He chuckled and thumped my forehead.

"Will you quite doing that!" I shrieked.

Shinji just stuck out his tongue and turned away. Before he left he turned his head and called:

"Sorry I had to spoil your breakfast."

I saw Shinji laugh as he walked back to school. I opened the bag to find a simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I looked up. All of my friends were staring at me, jaws dropped.

"Why is Shinji Hirako giving you a sandwich?" Michiru asked.

"What happened at breakfast?" Ryo asked.

I just shrugged my shoulders. It's not like I could tell them the whole story.

"Umm, he knocked my toast out of my mouth this morning?"

They still stared at me. I just took a bite of my sandwich. 'Thank goodness, I really needed this.' I just ate my sandwich and the girls eventually just went back to talking about nothing important.

The warning bell rang. We all got up and brushed off our skirts. Orhime grabbed my wrist. I watched the other girls run back into the building.

"Hey Tatsuki, what's going on with you and Shinji?" Orihime asked me.

"Nothing really, he gets on my ever loving nerves."

Orihime frowned a little, but nodded her head.

When we got back and I saw Shinji sitting on top of his desk. He was talking to Mahana. She was giggling and blushing. I rolled my eyes and walked over to Shinji.

"Thanks for the sandwich." I muttered.

Shinji gave that giant smile of his and winked. I just rolled my eyes and sat down. I really didn't like this guy. Mahana giggled extremely loud at something Shinji said. I didn't see how that guy could ever be that funny.

We all took our seats when the teacher came back. The lessons continued and they were long and boring. I was doodling in the margins of my paper. I was a pretty good artist. I had won a prize for and art assignment that we had to do last year. It had to be how we saw ourselves in the future. I looked around the classroom. Uryuu was listening intensely to the teacher, taking notes about things that she said that he thought was important. Orihime was staring out of the window. She did that a lot recently. It was like a bad habit that she had picked up from somewhere. Ichigo was zoned out. He looked like he was trying not to fall asleep. Ryo was also listening, just like Uryuu. I glanced over to where Shinji was sitting. He had his head resting in one hand. He was gazing at the teacher. I couldn't tell if he was actually listening or just in his own little world like Ichigo and Orihime. I wasn't sure how long that I sat there staring, but he noticed. His light brown eyes flicked toward me. He lifted up his free hand and waved his top four fingers, nonchalantly at me. He smiled as I turned around quickly. My face was on fire. I quickly began scribbling something in my notebook. I heard Shinji giggle.

"Mr. Hirako, is something funny?"

Shinji smiled politely.

"No sensei, I apologize. I just had a mental image that amused me. Do you forgive me?"

Everyone stared at him wide eyed, even the teacher. Shinji didn't have an inch of sarcasm in his voice. He sounded sincere. I didn't believe it for a second. Our teacher just shook her head.

"Just don't let it happen again."

Shinji nodded politely. 'This guy could talk his way out of anything I bet.' I thought. I glanced over at him one last time. He saw me, again, and winked at me. He turned his head back around to listen to the teachers lecture on trig-inequalities.

I walked out of class with Orihime. She had to get to her part time job, which was delivering bread of all things, and I needed to go to the dojo. I really didn't have to be there for another hour, but there weren't many places that I could go and be back in an hour. I usually just took my time getting there, got a drink, took time changing and hung around and watched or maybe spared with someone. Orhime walked out of the school gate with a wave.

I turned my head to the left. Shinji had his forearm propped on my shoulder. I let out a groan.

"What do you want?"

Shinji just shrugged his shoulders.

"Are you coming back again tonight?" Shinji asked, raising and eyebrow.

"No, I have to work." I relied as I shrugged his arm off of me.

Shinji smiled. He went to thump my forehead again, but I saw it coming. I grabbed his wrist quickly and turned it over. This caused Shinji's body to twist with his arm.

"You are going to stop doing that." I said through gritted teeth.

Shinji laughed as I let go of his arm.

"Feisty doesn't even describe you does it?" he laughed. "I'm going to miss you watching me kick Ichigo's ass today though."

Ichigo came up behind us and glared at Shinji.

"You wouldn't be saying that if I was using my bankai!"

"You do realize that I hadn't even released my zanpakuto. I don't think your little brain could handle it."

Ichigo glared and Shinji even harder and I tried to stifle a laugh. Shinji gave me a little half smile and headed out of the school yard. Ichigo sighed and followed behind him. It was nice to see someone, besides me, put Ichigo in his place. That was the one thing that I liked about Shinji. I headed off to teach some little kids the proper form for basic kicks and punches. How fun.

The walk home was long. The other night had been hard to shake. I swallowed hard as I heard footsteps approach. I heard a loud laugh. I turned around to see a group of familiar faces.

Shinji was leading the pack with Hiyori at his side. A man with long curly blonde hair and a man with a star shaped afro were the source of the laughter. The little bug girl was hanging onto the tall man I talked to yesterday. Hachi was bringing up the rear along with a girl with dark hair and glasses.

"Well what do we have here?" Shinji cooed.

I blew a loose strand out of hair out of my face and shook my head. I continued my walk home. I felt two pairs of shoulders nudge me on either side.

"Hi we weren't introduced the other day. I'm Rose." The blonde man said.

"And I'm Love." the guy with the afro said.

I immediately began to burst out laughing. They both stared at me questioningly. I was gasping and squeezing my screaming sides.

"Ah-ha ha hah, I'm sorry it's-it's just tha-that your names. They're so…"

I continued to laugh until I could calm down.

"Your names sound like they came straight out of a cheesy romance novel!"

I continued to laugh as Love and Rose frowned. I heard Shinji burst out laughing along with the rest of the gang except Hachi and the glass chick.

The grey haired man and the short girl hanging on his arm approached me.

"Hi I'm Mashiro!" the girl said with a smile.

"I'm Kensei. It's nice to see you again. I'd really like to meet that guy that beat up Ichigo."

I just gave a chuckle.

"That would be a girl that beat up Ichigo." I replied coolly.

Everyone stopped for a split second before they erupted in laughter.

"Wow then I'm really going to have to meet her then."

When Kensei said, that I saw Mashiro give a small frown; she must have a thing for him.

"Well you've already met her." I said with a smirk.

I pointed my thumb toward my chest.

"Me."

Everyone stood there wide eyed. The only two that didn't seemed surprised were Shinji and Hiyori.

"See I told you guys that he was a total baldy!" Hiyori yelled.

I looked at Shinji who was chuckling to himself.

"Well, you guys I have to get home." I said with a sigh.

"What do you have a curfew or something?" Shinji said smartly.

"Even if I did, my parents are both gone on business trips. I have homework and I haven't had dinner yet."

Shinji walked up to me and draped his arm around my shoulders.

"Well, you should have had dinner with us."

I turned my head slightly to look into Shinji's eyes.

"Oh, I'm so sorry I missed that. Whatever am I going to do now? I hate having a job, because I can't eat dinner with you!" I said sarcastically.

Shinji just laughed and squeezed me closer to him.

"Well let me walk you home in exchange."

"I'm fine." I said in a monotone voice.

"I insist." Shinji laughed.

He pushed me forward with the arm that was wrapped around my shoulders. I groaned as Shinji waved goodbye to his friends.

I tried to shrug Shinji's arm off of me. I was unsuccessful. His hand kept a tight grip on my shoulder.

"Will you let get your arm off of me!" I shrieked.

Shinji raised both arms in a sarcastic surrender. I groaned. We walked in silence the rest of the way. Shinji had his hands in his pockets. My arms were crossed under my chest.

We reached my house and I waved and Shinji. He blew me a fake kiss and winked. I just glared at him. He laughed as he made his way down the sidewalk.

"See you tomorrow Tatsuki!"

I felt my heart stop beating for just a split second. It was probably just because I loathed the thought of seeing him at school. I mean what other reason could it be?


	4. Chapter 4

Hey guys sorry about the long wait but here is chapter 4 hope you like it! Kubo owns bleach not me.

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><p>I pulled on my school uniform. This morning I got up earlier than usual to make extra sure that I could have breakfast and make my lunch. I sat down with my bowl of cereal. I was completely ready and I had at least a good fifteen minutes before I had to leave. Then came the wrap on the door. I got up and made my way across the kitchen. It was probably just Orihime frantic about some homework that she didn't get. I pulled open the door, the bowl of cereal still in my hand. I opened the door.<p>

"Gah! What the hell are you doing here? Isn't it too early for you to be aggravating the crap out of me?"

There Shinji stood in my threshold wearing straight-legged jeans, a red button down shirt, grey tie, black converses, and a grey hat.

"Nope." He said with that stupid grin on his face.

He stepped into my apartment and swiftly took my bowl of cereal and started eating it.

"Why do you always take my food? Don't you have your own?"

Shinji plopped right down at my table and still continued to eat my cereal. He just shrugged his shoulders and kept right on munching.

"Give me back my cereal…now." I said through gritted.

"Nope." He said taking a big sarcastic mouthful.

That was it. I lunged for my bowl. Shinji scooped it off of the table. I reached up to grab the bowl. Just as I almost had my fingers on the bowl I felt something push my foot. I lost my balance falling over onto Shinji. His eyes were wide as we both hit the ground with a thud. I felt the cold, wet, milk running down my back. Shinji was propping himself up with his arms. He started to say something, but I cut him off.

"Don't you even start." I growled.

I started to pull myself up when I slipped on the spilt milk, pummeling right back into Shinji. This time he couldn't catch himself. I was lying on top of him. Before I could even react I heard the door open.

"Hey Tatsuki! I know this is really last minute but I really need some help with that "Pride and Prejudice" stuff. Do you think you could…"

Orihime's eyes widened and her face turned red it could possibly get. She let out a squeal and ran out of the apartment slamming the door behind her.

I felt a pit in my stomach grow as I realized that Shinji had his hands around my waist. I guess that was his attempt to catch me. I felt the heat rise to my face. My hands starting shaking; they were around Shinji's head like a crown. I could feel his smooth, blonde hair against my skin. I could feel his chest rise and fall as I was pressed on top of him. His breathing was heavy, just like mine. Our faces were only inches apart. My eyes locked with his. This was one of the first times that I had really looked into them. They were a light brown, almost caramel. They were different. I snapped out gazing into Shinji's eyes. I pulled myself off of him. I felt his hands slip down my waist. I got up and headed to my room leaving Shinji in the kitchen.

I closed my door and tried to twist my head around to see how bad my uniform was. My entire back was soaked. I began to strip out of my clothes. I'd have to wash my uniform today. It was already starting to smell sour. I had just pulled my undershirt off when I heard the door open.

"Listen Tatsuki I'm sorry I didn't mean to-"

I spun around and threw my wet undershirt at him and covered my chest with my arms. Of course today had to be the day that I was wearing my pick chappy bra that Rukia had gotten for me for my birthday.

"GET OUT!" I screamed.

Shinji just stood there; wide eyed and mouth hanging open just a little bit.

"I SAID OUT!"

I heard Shinji mutter a quick apology before closing the door behind him.

I quickly slipped on a pair of jeans and yellow long sleeved V-neck. 'I wish I could just stay in here.' I thought. I knew however that I couldn't. I took a deep breath and opened the door. Shinji was putting a rag back on the sink. He had cleaned up the kitchen and straightened the table back.

"So…" Shinji started leaning against the counter. "…why don't we just skip school today? We are too late anyway and your uniform is messed up."

I wanted to say no, but everything he had said was right. I just nodded my head. Shinji opened the door for me and I locked it behind us.

I didn't know where we were going. I was just following Shinji. He had his hands in his pockets walking down the side walk. I was following close behind. Shinji turned his head and took a step back.

"You could walk beside me you know?"

I just looked in the other direction. I kept walking increasing my pace. Shinji caught up with me and grabbed my arm. I spun around glaring daggers into his caramel eyes.

"I'm sorry okay! It's not like I meant for that to happen. I didn't mean too. I didn't mean to walk in on you either."

I just nodded my head and jerked my arm away. I could feel my black hair hitting him in the face. I felt his hands on shoulders as he turned me back around, making me face him.

"Tatsuki I'm sorry! I'm really sorry okay! Please just…just stop."

His facial expression was pleading. I could tell that he was really sorry.

"Okay." I managed to breathe.

He gave me a quick smile.

"Good." He said.

He gave me his classic Shinji grin, thumped me on the forehead and took off running down the street. I let out and annoyed groan and took off after him. I don't think that he expecting me to be as fast as I am. I caught up to him and lept onto his back.

"I told you never to do that anymore!"

Shinji regained his balance very quickly and grabbed my knees. Shinji kept walking, carrying me piggyback style. I let out a slight chuckle and placed my chin on top of his head. I let him carry me to where ever we were going.

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><p>We arrived at a small restaurant called Villagio. I hopped off of Shinji's shoulders and gave him a questioning look.<p>

"I figured that I owed you a meal."

"Damn right you did." I shot back.

He laughed and opened the door for me. Inside there were hardly anyone in there. Shinji explained that it was never busy during lunch hours we had walked for a good while before we got here. He said that this was some of the best Italian food in the city. We sat down and looked over the menu. I decided on the seafood alfredo ravioli. Shinji ordered the lasagna. While we were waiting for our food I decided to see if I could actually learn something about him.

"So…um what's does it mean to be a captain or whatever? Ichigo still won't really talk about things to me."

Shinji shrugged his shoulders.

"Well think of soul reapers as like the army. There are different divisions and each division has a captain. There are ten in total."

I just nodded my head. That made sense.

"So the guy that betrayed everybody…he was a captain?"

Shinji's facial expression grew grim.

"Umm…no actually he was my vice-captain. I never really fully trusted him. I guess my instinct was correct."

"I'm sorry."

It was all I knew to say. Shinji nodded.

"…Wait…how old are you, like really?"

Shinji laughed at this and took a sip of his tea.

"Very old…ancient even."

I eyed him up and down. If he was ancient he sure as hell didn't show it. It was then that I realized that Shinji was actually really attractive. Two women at the other table kept glancing over at him. I felt myself blushing and looked down quickly.

"So do you age?"

"Yea, but very slowly."

I nodded my head. Luckily our food came out very quickly. It smelled so good! I cut one of the huge ravioli in half and popped it in my mouth. It was so delicious!

"Mmmm! This is ridiculously good!"

"I'm glad that you like it." Shinji chuckled.

I kept eyeing his plate of cheesy tomato-y goodness. I reached over with my fork and stuck it in his lasagna. He struck my fork with his.

"Uh-uh, this is mine." He said firmly.

"After all the times that you took my food, I can defiantly have a bite of yours."

He pushed my fork away and took a forkful with his own fork and held it to my mouth.

"I can feed myself. I'm not a baby."

"If you want some you better take it."

I took a bite much to Shinji's satisfaction. He pulled the fork out of my mouth and continued eating. I chewed slowly and tried not to look at Shinji. My face was on fire. Shinji started laughing. I looked up at him. He was resting his head on his hands. His head was tilted and he was staring at me, smiling.

"You're so cute."

I glared at him.

"Ha ha, very funny." I replied.

"No really."

I just looked at my plate and kept eating.

"What nobody's ever told you that you were pretty before?"

I just looked at him with my furrowed eyebrows.

"No."

Now it was Shinji's turn to furrow his eyebrows.

"Really?"

"Yes." I breathed.

Shinji was looking at me very serious. My heart was beating in my chest. 'Why is he looking at me like that?' He nudged my hand with his.

"Well you are."

"Umm thanks."

I pushed my food around with my fork. I was about to eat my last piece when, poof. It was gone. Shinji had his mouth full and alfredo sauce around his mouth. I quickly stuck my fork in his food and placed a little too much food in my mouth. Shinji busted out laughing. I was trying not to laugh because I would probably gag on all the lasagna that was in my mouth. I had my hand over my mouth just in case I did laugh and then Shinji would see all my chewed up food. My shoulders were shaking. Once I was finally able to swallow I looked up at Shinji. He reached toward my face and wiped off some tomato sauce off of my face. I chuckles and took my napkin and wiped some alfredo sauce off of his. Before I could lower my hand Shinji took it in his. I blushed again and could feel that sinking feeling in my stomach. He let go and motioned for the waitress to bring us our check.

"Umm… I can pay for mine once we get back. I didn't know that we were going out to eat."

"No its fine it's on me."

I just nodded. Shinji paid and we left.

We were walking down the street side my side. The cool November breeze sent a shiver down my spine. Shinji put his arm around me and pulled me close.

"You cold?" Shinji asked.

I nodded and Shinji squeezed me closer to him. I felt myself being scooped up. Shinji had picked me up bridal style. I let out a laugh and buried my face into crook between his shoulder and his chest. I didn't realize before, but Shinji smelled really good. I closed my eyes and let Shinji carry me off where ever.

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><p>"Where the hell have you been?"<p>

My eyes snapped open and I felt my eyes skip a beat. I looked up to see Shinji rolling his eyes. He put me down and it took me a little while to get my balance seeing as I just waken up. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. As I focused I saw that we were at the warehouse where Shinji and all of the other Visorseds lived.

"I said where the hell have you been?"

Ichigo was standing with Orihime and Chad.

"Oh calm down Ichigo." Shinji said coolly.

"Tatsuki, you just skip school and run off! We were all worried about you and nobody could find you! Orihime said she saw you all over Shinji this morning what the hell is going on!

I could feel my anger rising in my chest.

"Why in the world should I tell you anything? You are such a hypocrite! You all vanish for God knows how long and then you don't even tell me what happened and you think that you have the right to know where I am every single waking moment. I don't think so. You're supposed to be my friends but it's all one sided. You treat me like I don't have the right to know what's going on with your lives, but you're sooo interested in mine! Just fuck off Ichigo!"

My body was shaking. I was so angry at all of them for not trusting me. The three of them stood there wide eyed. Ichigo couldn't even look at me. I felt Shinji grab my wrist and lead me away from the group toward the doors that lead to where the Visoreds lived.

"Shinji!" I heard Ichigo call.

"Back off Ichigo, and I mean it." Shinji said through gritted teeth.

Anger didn't look right on Shinji, but it made Ichigo stop and take a few steps back. Shinji led me to his room and I sat down on the end of his bed. He knelt down and wiped something wet off of my cheeks. I hadn't even realized that I had been crying. I looked up at Shinji until he became a blur because of my tears. I blinked and they all feel. Shinji pulled me close into a hug. I wrapped my arms around his neck and played with his blonde locks. I felt Shinji sit on the bed and drape my small legs over his. I felt like I couldn't let go of him; like if I let go I would just break. I felt him kiss the top of my head as he rubbed the back of my head and smoothed out my hair. I tried to hold back my sobs. I still had my arms around his neck and he still had one arm on my back. With his other hand he pulled up my chin; making me look him in the eyes.

"It's all going to be okay."

He was still looking into my eyes as he leaned in. I felt like I was falling. The feeling in my stomach grew worse and worse the closer he got. Our lips finally met and it felt like something exploded inside of me. I tightened my grip around his neck and he pulled me closer. I could feel his hand rubbing up and down my back. I felt the kiss being deepened. I was starting to get nervous. I pulled back and looked into Shinji's eyes. He smiled and put his forehead against mine. He kissed my nose and pulled me back into a hug.

"I guess I better get you home. I think you've been out enough."

I nodded my head, but still didn't break the embrace. I nuzzled my head deeper into his shoulder. I felt Shinji chuckle.

"That would require you letting go."

I just shook my head. He lifted me up and I wrapped my legs around his waist. He held onto my lower back. I was amazed at how easily he lifted me up. For the first time I was actually looking down at Shinji. I leaned down and gave him a long kiss. He plopped me down and wrapped his arm around my waist. Ichigo and the gang were still waiting in the training room. A few visoreds still remained. I saw Ichigo approaching me.

"Not now Ichigo. I'm going home."

He stopped in his tracks and we kept going.

The walk home was nice. It was almost dark and the streetlights were just coming on. He walked me up to my door. I unlocked it and turned toward Shinji. He pushed a stray hair out of my face. I smiled as he gave me one last kiss.

"I'll see you tomorrow. I guess you actually have to go to school tomorrow, so I'll meet you here in the morning."

"I'll have an extra piece of toast waiting for you."

"That sounds fantastic."

Shinji kissed my forehead and hopped down the steps two at a time. I watched him go all the way until he was out of sight.

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><p>Thanks for reading please please please review.<p> 


	5. Chapter 5

I woke up to a beeping alarm clock. I stretched and yawned trying to get the motivation to get out of bed. Then I remembered yesterday. "Holy crap, I kissed Shinji yesterday…and he's coming over here this morning!" I screamed in my head. I quickly jumped out of bed and ran to get my now clean uniform. "What am I going to do?" I could feel my face heating up. I'd never done anything like this before and didn't know what to do. I got ready faster than I have ever gotten ready. Teeth and hair were brushed. Clothes were on. Books were together and ready for school. Toast was in the toast. Two pieces of toast mind you. I sat at my kitchen table and just waited. I felt so incredibly stupid. Why was I acting like this? Why am I so nervous? It's just Shinji. I took a deep breath and tried to compose myself when the damn toaster popped up my toast and scared me to death. Then there was the knock on the door. I grabbed the toast; one in my mouth, one in my hand. I through my school bag over my shoulder and headed out the door.

And there he was. Leaning against the railing with one long leg crossed over the other with that damn smirk on his face. He grabbed the toast out my hand and started munching on it. He started walking down the steps while I just stood there like an idiot. He raised an eyebrow and grabbed my hand with his free one and pulled me down the steps. We walked to school hand in hand eating out toast in silence. "How is he so calm?" I thought. I was a nervous wreck. My heart was racing, my hands were starting to sweat, and I was having a hard time swallowing my toast. Luckily I finished it quickly, so did Shinji. He ate pretty quickly. I guess it was a guy thing. I took a heavy, shaky breath.

Shinji stopped and stood directly in front of me. He looked right into my eyes. He hand to bend down to do so which pissed me off…just cause. His hands were in his pockets, as usual. "You okay?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. "I just really don't know what to do about all of this." I said quietly as I motioned with my fingers toward the two of us. He just gave a little chuckle and cocked his head to the side. "That's it? Well jeez Tats you just act normal…like this." That was when he thumped me on the forehead and ran off down the street. I took off after him. "That was mean, you asshole! I told you not to do that!" "Oh boo-hoo!" Shinji yelled over his shoulder; that only made me run faster.

I finally caught up with him and jumped on his back. I think he let me catch him. I'm fast, but he's got that long legged advantage. He started spinning me around in a circle, while I held on and laughed my head off. Shinji stopped and I slid off of his back. He turned to look at and leaned down to whisper in my ear. "See, just like that." I smiled up at him and got up on my tippy-toes. He was leaning down to me and I was stretching up to meet him. Just as I started to close my eyes I heard the worst possible sound imaginable. "Tatsuki?" I spun around to see that we were in front of the school. Orihime was staring at me wide-eyed. Ichigo was behind her with his mouth hanging wide open. It wasn't only them it was most of the school looking at us whispering behind their hands. Like I didn't know what they were saying.

I felt my face heat up and I heard Shinji give a groan. "Tatsuki, what the hell are you doing?" Ichigo yelled. The warning bell rang and kids started heading to class. I rolled my eyes at Ichigo and kept walking. Ichigo ran and stopped in front of me. "What are you doing with him? You know what he is! What the hell are you thinking?" I stood there gob-smacked. I gritted my teeth and hissed a reply. "Don't you dare tell me what to do Ichigo. Here's an idea: why don't you take your little group and go fight another war and Shinji can tell me all about it. Hmm? Does that sound good to you? You don't include me in your shit, why the hell should I include you in mine. I've tried really hard to understand Ichigo and give you space, but I'm tired of being a freaking third wheel. Just piss off!" I stomped off leaving Ichigo clenching his jaw and his fists. I heard Shinji mutter "You really are a dipshit." Shinji ran up to me and grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze. It was nice to actually have someone there for a change. For over a year now it seemed like it was just me.

Kids stared at us as we walked down the hall, and I surprisingly didn't care. We got to class and took our seats. I was probably too hard on Ichigo. I just take any chance I can get to take a stab at him. Everything that he was doing hurt me like hell and I wanted him to know it. I wanted one of my best friends to feel bad, because I felt bad. It was messed up, but I was just tired of walking around like nothing happened. I wouldn't do what they were all doing.

The teacher droned on and I glanced at Shinji who again had his head resting in his hand. He shot me a wink and rolled my eyes at him; smiling as I did so. I looked back at the teacher and tried to listen. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ichigo with his head down. "Serves him right." I thought. I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned around and saw Orihime slipping me a note. I took it and unfolded it.

**After school walk will you walk home with me? I don't have to work and we need to talk. I'll tell you everything. Just letting you know, none of talk about what happened last year. Ichigo won't even listen to me when I try to talk to him about it. But I want to tell you because I want to talk about it and now I'm ready to.**

**P.S. I think you and Shinji look cute together. I totally called it by the way. ^^**

**~Orihime ;3**

I scribbled Orihime a quick reply saying that I would come with her tonight. I looked over at Shinji who gave me a knowing smile and nodded his head. I guess he knew what was going on. I swear if he could read minds, I was going to be screwed…big time.


	6. Chapter 6

I followed Orihime to her house after school after a brief explanation to Shinji. He said he understood and that if I had time to stop by the warehouse, and if not he would see me in the morning. It was nice to not feel pressured. Everything with Shinji seemed so chill and relaxed, which helped calm my crazy nerves. I hadn't really been in a serious relationship before. Hell, I didn't even know if what was going on between Shinji and I was considered serious. To me it felt serious…so in my mind it was. I had had dates before, but nothing that lasted past that. I was never really all that interested in them to be honest. I usually just said yes because I didn't know how to say no.

We reached Orihime's house, which was right near mine. She put down her stuff and sat on the couch. I followed suit. Usually Orihime was trying to fix me some of her crazy, gross-nasty food at this point. This was when I knew to be concerned. She has a very serious look on her face. It made her look so much older than I remembered her being. Gone was the innocent naïve girl. I was upset with myself that I hadn't noticed before. She was putting on an act for everyone. We all fell for it. I grabbed her hand and she gave a small smile.

"I guess I better just start at the beginning." I didn't say anything, I just let her continue. She explained her powers to me, just so that I understood the background.

"I was basically kidnapped. An arrancar named Ulquiorra came and got me. Aizen planned to use me and my powers to activate some kind of weapon. This was going to kill all of these people and I was the only one who could destroy it. Tatsuki…I-I didn't even try! I was gone. It was like my soul just left my body. I didn't eat. I didn't sleep. I just sat there and looked out the window. There wasn't even a sun, just a moon. I think the reason that I did this was because Aizen promised not to hurt my friends if I did what he said. The only thing that I could possibly do for my friends to protect them was to just sit there…and that's what I did. I'm so weak!" She was trying to hold back tears. "Hime, you basically sacrificed yourself for your friends…that's not weakness." She just scoffed. "Oh, I'm not even done yet Tats." She took a deep breath and continued her story.

"Ulquiorra was the only one that I had contact with. He was such an odd guy. It was like he was emotionless on the outside. I was around him for so long though, I could tell by the smallest things when he was frustrated or confused. He never understood my faith in my friends. That made me feel sorry for him; to never know that feeling. He was the one who would always try and get me to eat. I think even he ended up trying to get me to snap out of it. I never got why. Oh, and did I mention he was good looking? He had long dark hair and pale skin. Oh and Tats his eyes! I always had to look him in the eye because they were so beautiful. They were so bright and green. He always cut his eyes when someone said something bad about me. He only cut his eyes when he was mad. That was something that I picked up on really fast." She gave a sigh. Realization struck me. "Orihime…" She gave a small smile. "Yea I was starting to care about him…Gosh I could even say that I was falling for him."

"It sounds crazy given the circumstances, but I did. It felt so different compared to Ichigo. Maybe it was because I actually felt like I had a chance. He was there for me in his own way. He was always trying to understand what I was going through. I might have just been reading too much into his actions, but I really don't think so." I smiled at her. This was the most serious, level-headed thing that I had ever heard her say.

"Then Ichigo killed him." My eyes widened. She cut me off before I could say anything.

"He was the bad guy. I even blocked one of his attacks to save Ichigo. And the crazy thing was Ulquiorra could have killed me. Aizen told him there was no use for me anymore. But he didn't. All he did was ask me about the human heart and what made it more than just an organ. I couldn't really explain it to him. He touched above my heart to feel it beating and looked into my eyes. That's when Ichigo came in; most of after that's a blur. Then in the final battle between the two, Ulquiorra actually killed Ichigo. Somehow he was able to come back to life, but he was a monster. He couldn't control his hollow. That was my fault. I couldn't heal him. All I could do was beg and plead for him to come back. How useless I was. Ichigo was so far gone he stabbed Uryu for getting in the way. He defeated Ulquiorra and changed back to his regular self. Ulquiorra was fading away into ash. He looked at me and asked me was I afraid and I told him that I wasn't. A-and h-he told me that he finally understood what the h-h-heart was. Th-then he reached for my hand and I-I reached for his, b-b-but it was too late. His hand turned to ash and I couldn't grab it. He just looked at me as he disappeared." She was hysterical at this point. I tried to soothe her, but she pushed me away. "I DIDN'T EVEN TRY TO SAVE HIM!" She continued to sob. "I DIDN'T EVEN TRY! I COULD HAVE TRIED TO HEAL HIM, BUT I DIDN'T! WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME? I'M SO USLESS!"

She laid her head in my lap and just cried. I cried to as I stroked her hair. I didn't know what to say to her. I don't think that she wanted me to say anything and I didn't. "Don't tell anybody." I heard her mumble. I told her that I wouldn't. She sat up. Her eyes were red and puffy. "I think I'm going to go and take a long bath and go to bed." I nodded as she bent down and gave me a hug. She turned and walked toward the bathroom. "There is not a night that goes by since then that I don't see those eyes in my sleep. Sometimes it's happy, sometimes it's not. I'll see you tomorrow Tatsuki." She never even turned around. She walked toward the bathroom. "Are you going to be okay?" I asked. As she closed the door I heard her say, "I'm always all right."

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><p><strong>AN thanks for all the support so far and I completely plan on continuing this story so don't freak out. I'm not really sure where I want this to go, which is why I haven't touched it in so long. If you have any ideas that you think would add to the plot send me a review or a PM. If I use your idea it will be credited in the story. This would really help me to push out more chapters and to decide where I really want this story to go. I love all of my readers. I'll be updating soon.**

**~katie **


	7. Chapter 7

I walked home in a daze replaying Orihime's story over and over in my mind. Going through that must have been hell and now, on top of all of that, she feels guilty too. I wonder if the rest of them feel the same way. Part of me wishes that I had just been there, gone through it with them, but that didn't seem fair. Obviously none of them wanted to go through what they went through so who was I to wish that I had.

I fiddled with the ends of my hair muttering to myself about how long it's gotten when I realized that I was at my front door. I noticed that a light was on in the house and I could have sworn that I had turned them all off. I started to feel anxious. Was somebody in my house? Burglars? I tried to listen to see if I heard any movement, which I didn't. I slowly tested the door handle to find that it was already unlocked. Now I was really freaking out. At least a small part of me knew that I could probably defend myself against the intruder.

I swung the door open and prepared myself for some form of attack. Nothing happened. "Do you always enter your own home acting like a ninja?" I let out a groan. Shinji was sprawled out on the couch flipping through one of my school books. He wasn't wearing his normal tie and the top few buttons of his dress shirt were undone. Much to my amusement even his hair was slightly disheveled, sticking up in a few places.

"I do when someone is in my house," I bit back. "How was I supposed to know that who were in here?" I pushed at his feet signaling that I needed some space to sit down. At least he had the decency to take his shoes off before putting his feet on the furniture. It was weird seeing Shinji in his socks looking so comfortable and casual. "Well you could've knocked." I let out a snort and pushed his knee before leaning against his legs that were propped up. I kicked off my own shoes and put my feet on the coffee table. This was all pretty foreign to me. A very good looking boy laying on my couch with his hands behind his head as he leaned against the armrest; his legs bent making a surprisingly comfortable wall for me to lean against. My cheek was on his knee and my shoulder rested against his shins.

"Do I even want to know how you got in here?" I muttered. I could feel Shinji chuckle. "Let's just say that your spare key isn't as well hidden as you think it is." I was too tired to make a smart comeback and simply shook my head slightly. "But really, I just wanted to make sure you were okay. I know how much you look out for Inoue." I sat up and looked at him. He propped himself up with his elbows and straightened his legs out slightly. Not really thinking, I flopped down on top of him and laid my head on his chest. I started fiddling with the wrinkles in his shirt and he placed his hand on my lower back.

"I just don't know what to do anymore," I mumbled. He started rubbing small circles in my back and shifted to make himself more comfortable. "I think you should just keep doing what you're doing. I know it's hard, but it's hard on them too. When they're ready they'll talk to you like Inoue did and you'll listen. You'll be there for them like you always have been. Ichigo won't be easy, but you have to remember that it's not personal. Ichigo doesn't talk about it to anyone. He does act pretty guilty about not telling you, but I think he will soon since he knows you talked to Inoue." How could so much sense come out of someone so incessantly annoying?

"He just makes me so mad." He laughed and I could feel the rumbling in his chest. "Yeah he tends to do that, but he's been through a lot. Don't freak out about this part…Ichigo was in a coma for a while…" I lifted my head and looked at him wide eyed. "I told you not to freak out; just listen," he said with a stern look. He placed his hand on the back of my head and gently pushed me back down against him. "After the battle he was completely out of energy and when he woke up he didn't have his powers anymore. His worked really hard to get to where he is now, but it's still not where he was before and that frustrates him. On top of that all of the shinigami went back to Soul Society before he woke up and still haven't come back. They've sealed the portals so no one can get through. It's to be expected after a war, but let's just say Ichigo's not too happy about that and now he's stuck with us."

I took a while to process what I just heard. "Rukia…?" "He hasn't seen or heard from her since the battle," he replied. I let out a sigh. It was beyond obvious that those two had feeling for each other.

I buried my head deeper into his shirt, taking in his scent as he started to play with the ends of my hair. I don't know how Shinji and I got to this point and frankly I didn't care. I gripped his shirt a little tighter. But, I knew I wasn't going to let go.

I felt myself laying on something hard and soft and warm all at the same time. "Do I have to get up?" I thought to myself. "Nope, no school today." I nuzzled back into whatever I was laying on. It smelled nice too. I felt hands tighten around my waist. That woke me up. I took sharp breath and pushed myself up with my hands. I opened my eyes to a very confused looking Shinji. He still looked half asleep and his hair was sticking up and slightly frizzy. "Sleep," he muttered and pulled my back down against him; squeezing me tight, like some kind of oversized teddy bear.

The sound of the door opening made us both snap to attention. In my doorway stood a very red, very confused, Ichigo. I attempted to untangle myself from Shinji who seemed unfazed by the whole thing and merely sat up against the couch. "How did you get in here?" I managed to sputter. "Everyone knows where you hide your key Tats!" He shouted back. Shinji snorted and I kicked him with my bare foot.

"As amusing as this is, I should probably head out anyway. Someone's probably like, died, or something without me there," Shinji said as he stood up and rubbed the back of his probably sore neck. He slipped his shoes on and went out the closed the door behind him after patting Ichigo on the shoulder.

Ichigo started wildly waving his arms gesturing to the door. I groaned and threw my head back. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes with the back of my hand. "He came over last night and we were talking and just fell asleep. Calm down," I said groggily. "It sure as hell didn't look like talking to me!" he yelled back. I shrieked in aggravation and stood up abruptly. "That's rich coming from the guy who had a girl living in his closet for God knows how long!" Well that shut him up. "Look," I said pinching the bridge of my nose. "Shinji was just here to make sure I was okay after talking with Orihime last night and that's all I have to say on the matter."

Ichigo rubbed the back of his neck and sighed in defeat. "Are you okay?" I nodded my head and we both went and sat at the kitchen table. Ichigo seemed to be actively avoiding the sofa. "Honestly I'm more concerned about Orihime than myself," I said. "Yeah, well what else is new?" I let out a chuckle.

"It's been pretty hard on all of us and we didn't intentionally leave you out. When this whole thing started it happened so fast. We had gone to Soul Society to save Rukia, and we did, and then it seemed like as soon as all of that calmed down, someone swept in took Orihime. The next thing I know we're training and then leaving to go get her. We knew it was going to be bad and we were ready to deal with that, but no one tells how hard it's going to be after everything is over." I reached out and covered Ichigo's hand with mine and gave him a small smile.

"After I defeated Aizen, who was like the head bay guy, I had used so much energy I fell into a comma. When I finally woke up my powers were gone. I couldn't understand why and frankly I was pretty depressed. Shinji and Urahara helped retrain me and things got better, but no one from Soul Society ever came back. None of them, not even Rukia. We all risked our lives, granted it was mainly for Orihime, but damn, we helped win the war. Now there's nothing left. It was like it never happened and that's what bothers me the most; after all of that-nothing. I consider a lot of those guys my friends and I haven't heard a peep out of them, not one."

I didn't feel like it was a good idea to ask any questions, especially about Rukia. So, I took Shinji's advice and listened, letting my oldest friend know that I was there for him. I let out the breath that he had been holding. "I'm sorry I've been such a dick lately. I felt like if I ignored it, like everyone else apparently is, it would make things better. Instead, I just felt like I was going to blow up most of the time." I gave his hand a squeeze. "It's okay. I just want you feel like you can come to me with these things, even though I wasn't there and don't understand it all, I'm still here. Whatever problem you're having, I'm here." He nodded and response.

We sat there in silence for a little while until Ichigo's face suddenly turned serious. "I really think you should stop seeing Shenji." I looked at him gob smacked. "Way to go and ruin a perfectly good friendship moment there Ichigo," I fumed. "It's not that I don't like him or whatever, it's just…you know, he's not human," Ichigo managed to ramble out. "I'm pretty aware of that fact." "It's just that he won't age, those guys are like immortal compared to us. How could it work?" "Jesus Ichigo! I'm about to graduate and go off to university. I'm not looking for marriage or anything. It's just nice having some." Ichigo let out an exasperated sigh. "All I'm saying is don't get too attached." "What like you and Rukia?" I snapped.

Ichigo's face turned as red as his hair. He started spluttering things that were unintelligible. It was something along the lines of 'I have no idea what you're talking about.' "Please, you both have feelings for each other you're just either too stubborn or too stupid to admit it," I stated. He raked his hand through his hair. "Okay, no more talk about figurative or real relationships. I get it." I nodded my head. It was so easy to get Ichigo riled up.

We talked about school and regular, non-spiritual related, things before Ichigo headed out saying something about Yuzu making lunch. I thought about what Ichigo had said. Especially that bit about Shinji. I tried to push it to the back of my head. We would just have to cross that bridge when we came to it.

Little did I know that moment was approaching faster than I thought.


End file.
